Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Light influences how the fungal toxin deoxynivalenol affects plant cell death and defense responses
    The Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) can cause cell death in wheat (Triticum aestivum), but can also reduce the level of cell death caused by heat shock in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) cell cultures. We show that 10 μg mL−1 DON does not cause cell death in Arabidopsis cell cultures, and its ability to retard heat-induced cell death is light dependent. Under dark conditions, it actually promoted heat-induced cell death. Wheat cultivars differ in their ability to resist this toxin, and we investigated if the ability of wheat to mount defense responses was light dependent. We found no evidence that light affected the transcription of defense genes in DON-treated roots of seedlings of two wheat cultivars, namely cultivar CM82036 that is resistant to DON-induced bleaching of spikelet tissue and cultivar Remus that is not. However, DON treatment of roots led to genotype-dependent and light-enhanced defense transcript accumulation in coleoptiles. Wheat transcripts encoding a phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) gene (previously associated with Fusarium resistance), non-expressor of pathogenesis-related genes-1 (NPR1) and a class III plant peroxidase (POX) were DON-upregulated in coleoptiles of wheat cultivar CM82036 but not of cultivar Remus, and DON-upregulation of these transcripts in cultivar CM82036 was light enhanced. Light and genotype-dependent differences in the DON/DON derivative content of coleoptiles were also observed. These results, coupled with previous findings regarding the effect of DON on plants, show that light either directly or indirectly influences the plant defense responses to DON.
      413Scopus© Citations 12
  • Publication
    Wheat Encodes Small, Secreted Proteins That Contribute to Resistance to Septoria Tritici Blotch
    During plant–pathogen interactions, pathogens secrete many rapidly evolving, small secreted proteins (SSPs) that can modify plant defense and permit pathogens to colonize plant tissue. The fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici is the causal agent of Septoria tritici blotch (STB), one of the most important foliar diseases of wheat, globally. Z. tritici is a strictly apoplastic pathogen that can secrete numerous proteins into the apoplast of wheat leaves to promote infection. We sought to determine if, during STB infection, wheat also secretes small proteins into the apoplast to mediate the recognition of pathogen proteins and/or induce defense responses. To explore this, we developed an SSP-discovery pipeline to identify small, secreted proteins from wheat genomic data. Using this pipeline, we identified 6,998 SSPs, representing 2.3% of all proteins encoded by the wheat genome. We then mined a microarray dataset, detailing a resistant and susceptible host response to STB, and identified 141 Z. tritici- responsive SSPs, representing 4.7% of all proteins encoded by Z. tritici – responsive genes. We demonstrate that a subset of these SSPs have a functional signal peptide and can interact with Z. tritici SSPs. Transiently silencing two of these wheat SSPs using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) shows an increase in susceptibility to STB, confirming their role in defense against Z. tritici.
      11Scopus© Citations 12
  • Publication
    A wheat cytochrome P450 enhances both resistance to deoxynivalenol and grain yield
    The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) serves as a plant disease virulence factor for the fungi Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum during the development of Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease on wheat. A wheat cytochrome P450 gene from the subfamily CYP72A, TaCYP72A, was cloned from wheat cultivar CM82036. TaCYP72A was located on chromosome 3A with homeologs present on 3B and 3D of the wheat genome. Using gene expression studies, we showed that TaCYP72A variants were activated in wheat spikelets as an early response to F. graminearum, and this activation was in response to the mycotoxic Fusarium virulence factor deoxynivalenol (DON). Virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) studies in wheat heads revealed that this gene family contributes to DON resistance. VIGS resulted in more DON-induced discoloration of spikelets, as compared to mock VIGS treatment. In addition to positively affecting DON resistance, TaCYP72A also had a positive effect on grain number. VIGS of TaCYP72A genes reduced grain number by more than 59%. Thus, we provide evidence that TaCYP72A contributes to host resistance to DON and conclude that this gene family warrants further assessment as positive contributors to both biotic stress resistance and grain development in wheat.
    Scopus© Citations 49  356